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2013-11-23 - SDR: Uncle Nick's Theme Park Extravaganza
Six Flags Over New Orleans. Once this was an amusement park where families came to ride on rides, eat overpriced food, and enjoy themselves. Now the area has been fenced off, the rides being eaten by decay and rust, the buildings covered in graffiti by local gangs and teenagers wanting to leave their mark. The road to the park has all but been taken back by the surrounding swamp. A twelve foot high chain link fence surrounds the property, with clearly marked 'NO TRESSPASSING' signs every ten to fifteen feet or so. The gates have been barred, chained, and locked tightly, but evidence of judicious use of bolt cutters on chain link can be seen to the side of the chained-shut gates. The dilapidated old-west-stle main street is visible beyond the gates. To the left are corridors leading to bathrooms, at least, according to the graffitied signs, the right leads to 'Guest Relations'-- the first word crossed out with black paint and replaced with 'Underage'. The stench of oxidation, mold, rot, putridness, and swamp filter from the area ahead. The only sound is the distant sounds of birds crying in the swamp. Clint has been keeping watch on the park for over twenty-four hours now and it's showing. His stubble has grown out and he looks a little worn out, but he's still on station keeping an eye on the park from a high point just beyond the fence. Crouched in the shadows. Phil does not seem very happy to be here, though he certainly looks ready. Not just is he wearing the body armor from before, but also a neckguard protecting his healing bite wound and a shotgun in his hands, a couple of stakes and his 9mm hang on his belt. He stealthily approaches where Hawkeye is crouching and whispers, "Any signs?" Blade approaches Clint and Phil. He makes no noise as he approaches, but would speak softly before he actually gets to them..so as not to get staked by accident. He had spent the last couple of nights away from the group, working his own contacts and getting the team proper vampire hunting weapons. He also got them some UV flashlights that they could mount on their hand guns, along with some silver ammo and he made some garlic grenades himself and then passed them around. He's not wearing his sunglasses tonight. His inhuman eyes almost seem to glow softly in the darkness. He speaks just above a whisper. "They're here. I can sense them." He understands that getting Romanov out is priority. He's worked with SHIELD before, he knows how they are about their own. Perhaps it's because he's recently been recruited to a team of his own, that he's actually willing to be a team player for this one. "What is our plan of attack?" Ward waits near the fence at one side of the park. He's got a penlight-sized laser cutter in-hand and a large-caliber sniper-rifle across his back, with a 9-mil at his hip, and a sawed-off shotgun holstered at the small of his back. His own few garlic-grenades strapped across his chest. It's rare to find him in the SHIELD issue jumpsuit, but this appears to be an exception. He too has both a carbon fiber neckguard and a pair of vambraces to hopefully protect his wrists and forearms, as well. He reaches down to his communicator and signals Agent Coulson (silently) that he's in position. "Ran into the vamp buffet down in the park, homeless guys, almost drained, totally out of it. I left them behind for now, but when this thing is done someone has to get them out of there," Clint says to Phil before he turns to Blade and nods his thanks when the Daywalker starts handing out party favours. He slips a UV flashlight to his bow and slips a grenade into one of his pouches. "Do you know where they are?" Clint asks Blade before he looks to Phil for the plan of attack. Phil nods to the others, "I am avoiding a complex plan, since it won't work past the first step. Our first step is to clear out this front area, and see if there are any signs of where JP and the deputy director are." He looks to Blade, "Can you tell if any are nearby, and how many?" His voice is barely a whisper. Blade shakes his head. "I can sense their presence. I know they're here. Some are stronger than others." He closes his eyes and focuses for a moment. "There are two in the main street square area. Beyond that, there are so many that it's hard to pick them apart from one another. Odds are, they probably already know we're here. Especially you. We can hear the blood pulsing in your veins from miles away." That's why it was so hard to sneak up on Blade..on any vampire. He withdraws both pistols from their sheathes on his legs. "The stealth approach won't work. I suggest we just go in shooting and root them all out." "The direct approach works for me," Clint says as he grabs his bow. "What do you say Phil? Move in, secure the entrance and go from there?" "Standing by." Ward transmits. He's the flanking element here, for all the good that may or may not do. Still, while the others go in the front, he'll try to sandwich them from the back, so to speak. Or just find a vantage point and start sniping. Phil checks his shotgun to see that it is loaded with the silver birdshot that he had made, "Sounds like a plan, if we don't have the element of surprise, why bother trying to pretend. Let's go." Phil makes his way into the park, his shotgun ready. The security station-- what's left of it, anyway-- is deserted. The two homeless men Hawkeye had spotted earlier in the day have long since vacated deeper into the park, though the detritis of a few food wrappers lay scattered against the walls near the enterance to the bathrooms. A shuffling noise can be heard from within the bathrooms, and more still up ahead, from within the crumbling wild west 'buildings'. Blade walks into the park, heading by Goodtime Gardens and then the Looney Tunes Adventures area on the other side. He is about to hang a left to head towards Main Street when he hears the shuffling noise coming from the bathroom. He pauses for a moment, staring at the entrance to the place, then he shakes his head and continues walking. He has a gun in each hand as he heads for the area where his senses tell him there is something amiss. "Makes no sense. Why aren't they attacking?" He asks off-handedly. Clint heads down towards the park, letting Blade take point since he's the one who can sense the vampires coming and stands a chance going toe to toe with them. However when he hears the noise from the bathroom he turns his bow that way to cover the door as the group moves forward. Agent Ward quickly runs the laser cutter in a large circle on the fence, pulling the now-separate piece out and setting it aside before slipping through the now man-sized gap. He draws the shotgun and puts on the nightvision "sunglasses" he's been carrying to give him a better view of the battlefield. Despite there apparently being no need for stealth, Ward still makes the effort nonetheless, moving slowly and carefully through the abandoned park, senses alert for signs of attack. Phil is quiet, just being cautious looking about, shotgun at the ready. The noisy bathroom catches his attention, and the points the barrel at the bathrooms. He turns to Blade, "Perhaps they are wanting us to go further in?" "" a voice says in Russian from the square. More shuffling noises can be heard. Another voice responds conversationally, "" And two vampires slink out from with a building. "" And from the bathroom, the fudge shop, the bakery-- the emporium and the cafe... ghouls. Dozens. Thirty or more. They shuffle, and they moan. The first one speaks again, switching to a harsh, slavic language, looking at Blade. "######? ## ### ###### #### #####." Blade cants his head slightly to the side as the two vampires speak in their native tongue. He asides to the SHIELD agents. "Take the ghouls. They crave human flesh, so be careful. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb are mine." He smiles as his canines extend. "It's obvious you motherfuckers aren't aware of who stands in front of you. Allow me to educate you." With vampiric speed he raises both guns and begins firing at each vampire. "## ### #### # ###### ####? ###'## ###### ##### ## ####!" He snarls in their own language. Editor's Note: By the time I leave here, your Father will be dust. "These don't look like Vampires, Blade." Ward doesn't bother whispering over the comms now, drawing his pistol and ventilating the skulls of the first two ghouls that move into his sight. "Anything special we should know about these things?" He breaks into a run, moving towards the remnants of the "Sonic Slam" as it's the tallest structure he can find here. He re-holsters his pistol along the way, and uses the shotgun to perforate a third ghoul as he sprints across the pathways of the park. Birdshot was apparently a bad idea, or at least it seems to Phil as quickly slings the shotgun and draws his pistol, dropping a couple of ghouls with well-placed headshots, "Ghouls, Ward, they are tough to take down and they do not bleed." He drops another ghoul. Clint takes a breath to center himself and then starts shooting. He pulls out target arrows out of his quiver and puts them down range into the eyes of the ghouls. He glances over towards Phil and shoots off an arrow. "On your six, Phil." "##########!" snarls one of the vampires, diving towards Blade with fury clear on his face. His fangs are extended and reveal him to be the monster that he is. His companion hesistates, but joins the battle, slashing at Blade with a quickly drawn blade. Editor's Note: TRAITOR! The ghouls swarm, surging at the SHIELD agents, slavering with hunger. Blade goes into a flurry of high speed movements, dodging the vampires and shooting at them with silver bullets at each opportunity. These guys may come from an older bloodline, but they don't have his decades of experience. Blade is a master martial artist, a master swordsman, and a weapon expert. He's been hunting for over 40 years now. "All of your kind must die. I will tend to it personally." Agent Ward continues to rather methodically blast away at ghouls, again holstering the shotgun and relying on the pistol for close-range precision. Almost every headshot hits, though one ghoul manages to evade a shot and lunges at him. He drops back, bringing his leg up and tossing the creature using its' own momentum to send it sailing past him. Ward kippups to his feet, barely bringing his right arm up in time to avoid the bite of a second, but it gets a mouthful of that forearm-guard instead, and Ward drops his pistol from his right hand to his left and brings it up under the ghoul's chin before pulling the trigger. He swivels and puts another round in the ghoul he'd just tossed as well, as it had regained its' feet and started to lunge for him again. "We're going to burn through ammo fast at this rate..." Phil draws a stake with his left hand. His pistol soon lands another kill, or it is an unkill? Another ghoul falls, "If you got any special tricks in your quiver, best use them." Phil says to Clint. Phil soon jams his stake into the throat of a ghoul, leaving it there as though another rams into him, nearly knocking the agent over. Coulson puts a round in the ghoul's neck. Clint moves forward, grabbing an arrow and yanking it out of the eye of a dead ghoul. He shoots it at the next one to come towards him "Yeah, speak for yourself Ward," he calls before he draws an arrow out of his quiver and launches it at the feet of a wave of ghoul. It explodes and sends the ghouls flying. "Better, Phil?" The first of the two vamps snarls wordlessly, attacking Blade with ferocity. He catches his breath, it seems, to snarl in halting English, "Good luck." He lunges. The ghouls drop as they are headshot one by one, but it seems more are joining, attracted by the noise, coming from the other sections of the park. Homeless, college students, children and grandparents-- a virtual cornacopia of the missing from the region. It seems we know where they went. Blade holsters one of his guns and fires at the fist vamp. He dodges and lunges for Blade, but instead of evading him, Blade holds his ground. Just before contact, Blade hits him with an open palm attack and an audible *shink* is heard as a silver stake extends from his wrist, embedding itself into the vampire's heart. As he is turned to dust, Blade turns towards the second vampire. "I'm sorry your partner fell to pieces over me." He holsters his second gun and then strikes a fighting pose, goading the second vampire. "Your father is weak, as are you. I'm still waiting for my lesson to be taught." Huh. Blade made a joke. Somewhere in Grant Ward's mind that surprises him, but he doesn't really have time to dwell on it at the moment. Three more ghouls fall as Ward moves back, ducking around a corner and ejecting his pistol magazine, quickly slapping a second into place. "Blade! Does conventional ordnance work on these things?" *BLAM* Another shot, another drop, but Ward is clearly on the retreat at the moment as more of these things come out of the woodwork. Phil groans as he is rammed by a ghoul, though the explosion from Hawkeye's arrow seems to buy him enough time to rid himself of it. He empties what remains of his magazine into one more ghoul before he is forced to change it. "Nice shot, Barton," he says with some approval to it. "I owe you a donut," he quickly looks about before shooting at another ghoul. "No problem Phil," Clint says as he sends a net arrow down range to tangle up a group of ghouls heading in their direction. He fires an explosive arrow into their midst sending ghoul parts everywhere. "We got a plan, because, yeah, we can't keep this up forever." "" the second of the russian vampires wails in terror. He spins, disappating into mist, and the mist floats off hurridly towards the waterfront. The ghouls continue to gather, reaching with undead fingers to the humans, clawing, snapping, moaning and gnashing their teeth. Blade draws his guns again and extends them both out to the side, then he begins to fire while turning in a slow circle. Each shot finds it's mark within the head of a ghoul. Blade was in a mood. The mist trick was one ability that he didn't possess himself, so he decided to help out the agents before more vampires showed up. Ward continues to blast away, falling back so that he's closer to the other combatants. A few more ghouls fall, and Ward frowns. "Didn't get an answer...do these things have the same sort of durability as Vampires?" Another magazine ejected, another reloaded. Running out of silver-garlic bullets fast. Phil drops a couple more of the ghouls, and nods to Blade as he joins the fight against the ghouls. "It seems that headshots are doing pretty well," He yells to Ward, "Worked before, let's just hope we don't have to repeat." Clint keeps up the pressure on the ghouls as they keep coming. Eye shots when he can make them. Otherwise he tries to slow them down. The last of the ghouls fall to the combined might of the SHIELD agents and the dhampir. The men barely have time to catch a moment of breath, when the faint click-click of heeled boots on concrete can be heard. "Boys, boys, boys," a female voice with a Russian accent says playfully from the middle of the street leaving the Looney Tunes section for Mardi Gras. Long red hair ripples in the breeze, and fangs are bared in a smile. "Did you come here looking for me?" She laughs, and it is a light noise, but yet somehow unnatural. She wears tight black corderoys and a low-cut red tank top. Her pale skin is almost glowing in the moonlight. "Don't worry. I won't bite. Hard." A wave of subtle compulsion, of feral desire for every base act of feeding and sensuality rolls from her towards the men. Blade holsters his guns and then turns at the sound of a female voice. His gaze narrows slightly and there is no hesitation on the part of the Daywalker. His body blurs as he moves. His hand reaches back drawing the sword on his back. He blurs right past Natasha..or what seemed like Natasha. He sheathes his sword again as he turns to walk towards the SHIELD agents. A thin line appears at the vampire's neck before it's head rolls past it's shoulders, turning to dust as it goes. Then the rest of the body follows. Blade snarls. "The audacity.." Grant Ward's eyes widen a bit as "Natasha" appears, feels that slight grip on his mind as she attempts her mesmerization, and then blinks again as Blade dusts her. "What...?" Yes, color Ward befuddled. Did Blade just kill a turned Natasha? Was it some trick of their mental abilities? Can some of them shapeshift into more than mist and the like? Well, who cares, really? There are clearly still more that need to be dealt with. Still, given the situation, he does look back towards his elder, Agent Coulson, as he puts away his pistol and draws the shotgun again. He's guessing that whether that was her or not, they're still going to finish this. Phil only lowers his gun a little, he turns pale at the presence of Natasha. He is unable to raise his gun to shoot her, but when she turns to dust, the usually calm, collected agent's pale face turns bright red, "BLADE!' he bellows, "What did you do?" Clint is hit hard by the compulsion and is already moving towards Natasha when blade kills her. "You son of a bitch," he growls out in surprise and anger before letting arrow fly. One for Blade's heart through the back and a second aimed to his left just in case he dodges the second. A third is being put to string just in case. Blade adjusts his coat as he looks Coulson in the eye. "I killed a vampire." He turns to walk on before Clint begins firing arrows at him. The first one strikes home, impacts his chest and his heart. The second one is caught between Blade's fingers and tossed to the side. He looks at his chest before pulling the arrow out. There's a some blood before the wound begins to close due to his accelerated healing. "That's not going to kill me.." He states before he looks at Clint again. "You need to calm down. Right now." The tone of his voice is calm. "Barton, -stop-!" Ward calls out, "There isn't a cure..." Ward's voice is cold, no emotion whatsoever, "If she was compromised, then we -had- to take her down. She'd be too dangerous otherwise." He might as well be describing the weather, as matter-of-fact as his tone is, and as stony as his expression remains. "Ward, shut up," Phil says, "There isn't a cure, yet. If you are so understanding of the situation, you can tell Director Fury that the Deputy Director is dead." His voice is like ice. Blade gets a cold, hard stare, "You better have a damn good reason for that." "Fuck that, you killed her," Clint says as he fires the third arrow, then reaches for one of his last two explosive arrows. Ward gets a snarl from Clint "You don't know that, I saw a friend of mine who was /dead/ five years come back. So as far as I'm concerned this guy just murdered one of us." He fires the explosive arrow at Blade. The damaged loudspeaker system hisses and crackles to life. A gravelly, Russian accented voice speaks. "It seems we have visitors, da? Noisy ones. Children, whichever of you brings me the SHIELD creatures will be amply rewarded. ... that goes for you little French speaking pissdrips as well." THere is silence for the moment after the speakers cut off. But for how long? Blade moves his neck from side to side. He doesn't look worried that his 'team' may have just turned on him. "I told you when you brought me on that if ANY of you were compromised, I would kill you without hesitation." With a growl, he plucks the explosive arrow out of the air and hurls it high in the sky before it detonates. He growls. "Use your heads, Agents. That woman was NOT Agent Romanov. She looked a little like her, but the vampires we're after are Russian also...and she had a similar build. Gentlemen, you were glamoured. That woman would have killed you all. Now, she's still alive and I intend to find her. There are few humans who can do this job because they become too emotional when they see family or loved ones turned. Remember your training. Are we done with this nonsense? Because we aren't done here, yet." "Fighting each other isn't going to help this situation." Ward notes with his continued icy calm. He looks up at the sound on the loudspeakers as that Russian voice kicks in, then looks back to Coulson and Barton, then Blade, "Whether that was her or not, we need to finish this. If it wasn't, we still have a chance to get her back. If it was, we can make sure these God-damned monsters don't get a chance to do this to anyone else." Phil glares at Blade, "Very well, I will take your word on this, but if we find the real Agent Romanov..." he shakes his head, "No matter, let's get going. Where should we go now, Blade?" His voice still would drip with anger, if it wasn't so icy in tone. Clint is glaring furiously at Blade still. "You guys are just going to take his word on this?" he growls and turns. "Well good luck storming the castle without-" there is a blur of motion and Clint is knocked into a wall, sending plaster raining down around him. In his place stands a vampire, pale, dark haired, with narrow features. He is joined by three others surrounding Blade and the SHIELD agents. The fast one adjusts the lay of his track suit, the gold chain on his chest glittering brightly in the moonlight. "You like our little show, da? Now is time to die," he grins with canines extend then in another blur of motion he comes for Blade swinging a sword of his own, a Cossack's saber, one of his brothers joins him using fangs and claws. The other two vampires, like wise jump Coulson and Ward, one coming after each, but they're slower, younger than the ones coming for Blade. From on high, two more vampires appear-- Derek and Chuck. They stand on top of the nearby roof, watching the other vamps attack the SHIELD agents and Blade. Blade growls again as they are ambushed. His uses his sword to barely block the strike from the one vampire before he is impacted by the second, the force throws him through the air and through the wall as well. "This is why I work alone." He comes out of the whole in the wall. "TIme to put up or shut up." He takes on a fighting stance with his sword, samurai style. "Slower than the one attacking Blade" is certainly relative, and that still means "faster than Ward." Or at least faster than he can get his shotgun to bear. He -does- once again manage to bring up a forearm, and though the vampire's fangs do puncture the guard there slightly, they don't quite break Ward's skin. Still, Ward is thrown back by the force of the pounce, landing hard on his back with the creature atop him. The shotgun, however, remains in hand, and he brings it up just enough to send a load of silver-garlic buckshot into the creature with a loud *BOOM* Phil has no time to say anything. He may not have the speed of a vampire, but at least his pistol is out. He levels the barrel at the one charging him, and fires twice at the center body mass, hoping to deal with this vampire with one of Blade's special rounds. The two vampires facing Blade halt their attack for an instant when the Daywalker returns through the wall. Then with a shout the Tracksuit Cossack charges his saber flashing with blazing speed as he tries to cut down the Daywalker. His friend tries to get around behind Blade and hit him while he's busy. The vampire on Ward, or used to be on Ward flies back when hit by the shotgun blast sizzling and screaming with the silver and garlic in his gut. The little fires caused by the silver spread and the vampire screams one last time as it shrivels into dust. Coulson's goes down faster hit in the chest, the rounds piercing its heart and turning it to dust on the spot scattering dust on Coulson's clothing. The two young looking vampires on the roof look disgusted at the proceedings. "############. ##### #### ####." Derek notes to Chuck. His 'brother' nods, his nose curled in a snarl and crossing his arms across his chest. Note: 'Disgusting. They aren't real siblings.' Chuck finally makes a gesture, and the two depart, heading quickly towards the waterfront, and the tall, decaying rollercoaster and rides there, into the heart of the Mardi Gras area. Blade frowns slightly before moving like a blur, when the vamp with the large sword comes for him, he blocks it and then slides his blade along that one, closing the distance between the two before he lopes off his head. Spinning around, he tosses his sword up and catches it backwards, moving to a reverse grip and slashes low at the vampire coming from behind him, taking off his legs before he spins the blade in his hand and stabs him in the heart. He then turns towards where Derek and Chuck went and speeds after them. Clint shakes himself off and stands up. "God, what hit me?" he asks before he sees Blade running off as a blur. He picks up the arrows that came out of his quiver when he hit the wall and with a glance back at the entrance to the park, he curses and lopes after him, looking at Ward and Coulson "I guess we're following Mr Smiley?" Ward moves back to his feet, cocking the shotgun to eject the spent shell and slide another one into place. "Looks that way." Ward replies to Clint, giving a glance over to Coulson before starting off on a sprint in that direction as well, eyes scanning for vantage points that he might be able to use as a sniper's nest. Phil holsters his pistol and unslings his shotgun, a simple semiautomatic. As Blade drops the two pestering him, Phil nods as the other two agree that it is best to just follow the vampire shredder, and follows their suit, the agent running after Blade. A number of vampires, eight, to be precise, mostly looking between the ages of 16 and early 30s, sit, stand, or hang on the Mega Zeph. Jean-Phillippe hangs from the broken remnants of the Sonic Slam, watching the SHIELD agents...and Daywalker... approach. "" he intones hurridly in French. "" And they do, most of them, dissolving into mist and slipping out into the swamp towards the city. Except two. Derek and Chuck both stay, looking worried. "We won't leave without you, father," Chuck says. "What about our new sister?" Derek argues. "You can't leave her with--" Jean-Phillippe waves an hand angrily. "This was not part of the deal. I am not Rhenzkov, I will not watch my children die. LEAVE." Derek looks stricken, and Chuck shakes his head. "No! You won't face the Daywalker alone." A rasping laugh comes from the roof of the arcade. "Are you really having this conversation?" Rhenzkov asks. "###### ######### #######." His attention turns towards the incoming enemy. His face is scarred. "Daywalker. Barton. It's like... Christmas, da? And after we kill you, I'm going to slowly repay your whore in there for what she did to my face." 'Control them and be done.’ Blade slides to a stop and looks up at Rhenzkov. He says in French. "" he spits in Russian. "######## ##### ###### ###### #######, Jean-Phillippe," he calls over to the other vampire lord. "#### #### ##### ### ##################." He looks at Blade. "I will take pleasure in destroying you, dhampir. I will lick your blood from my fingertips." And he attacks, faster than the human eye can see; a blur of darkness that passes around the vampire hunter, roaring with bloodlust. Note: ‘Your putrid obsession with your spawn is sickening, Jean Phillippe. Do not betray our agreement.’ "Your reputation must be something," Phil says with a tiny amount of humor, hefting his shotgun up to his shoulder, finger not on the trigger, yet. He doesn't say anything else, but makes sure the barrel is pointed in the direction of Jean-Phillipe and his 'sons' hoping to take down one of the threatening 'sons'. Rhezkov is moving too fast for him to attack, but he instead fires at Chuck, hoping that the silver birdshot is enough to deal with him. Blade manages to bring his arms up just before impact. He is locked in a deadly embrace with Rhezkov and they slide along the ground until Blade's back impacts the wall, cracking the area around the two from the force of the impact. Blade stares at the elder vampire. "Better than you have tried. And they all have failed." He lifts the vampire off his feet, tossing him in the air and then spinning in place to deliver a devastating spinning heel kick to his body, timing the attack so that it strikes just as he comes down from being tossed. Derek blurs to the side as the shotgun is fired at his brother, shoving Chuck out of the way. The silver buckshot wings the taller vampire, and he lets out a hiss of pain, dropping to his knees on the rollercoaster track and doubling over. Chuck howls in rage, his attention-- his hunger-- turned fully on Coulson. He moves, and it is like wind, air rushing by Coulson's face. "My sisters......" Chuck hisses in the Agent's ear. "Prudence. Charity. My brothers. Claude. Dorian. You and your people will pay for their deaths." And the vampire grabs the agent and hurls him bodily into the snowball stand. Agent Ward plucks one of the garlic-powder grenades from his harness, pulling the pin and letting it "cook off" in his hand for a moment before he lobs it over the rim of the Spillway, aiming to have it "airburst" just barely overtop the head of Jean Phillippe, hopefully causing a painful and nasty distraction for the other three vampires just as Phil launches his attacks. Even as it sails through the air, Ward re-draws a bead on one of them...shifting quickly to re-acquire Chuck when he moves, and just as he's committed to hurling poor Phil, Ward squeezes the trigger, aiming to send a high-caliber silver-garlic round through the "elder brother's" head. The Russian vampire grunts and snarls, absorbing the blows, though not without damage. He snaps forward, lashing out with claws and teeth to rend Blade's flesh. Phil would respond to Chruck with more birdshot, but he is busy pulling himself out of a snowball stand, clearly sore, though fortunately the immense amount of padding on his torso and his armguards are enough to prevent the worst of it. He glances over at a sharp, broken board, roughly stake like, that missed him by a few inches. "##### #### ## ######" Jean-Phillipe snarls as at Rhezkov, then seeing the grenade coming pushes Derek out of the way covering him with his body as the garlic laced shrapnel rains down. Down on the ground Clint shifts his aim from Rhezkov to Jean-Phillipe, as he says into comms "Ward, get to the arcade, get her out of here," not that Ward has to listen to him. He lets go of the arrow and Jean-Phillipe catches it, just like Clint planned; it explodes showering the elder vampire with silver and garlic. Jean-Phillipe hisses rearing back and misses the explosive arrow that follows. It blows the track out from under his and Derek's feet sending both vampires crashing towards the ground. Or would if Jean-Philipe didn't catch Derek and land amongst the rubble. Note: The deal is broken As Chuck releases Agent Coulson into the air, the bullet from Ward's sniper rifle enters his skull and cuts through it like a hot blade through butter. He stands for a moment before turning to dust. Derek lets out a choked sob, but nods to his father, turning to mist and beginning to escape. "Copy." Ward notes towards Barton, plucking up the rifle and tucking it close against his body as he slides down the spillway on his back, quickly clambering over the edge and dropping to the ground in a crouch when he reaches the bottom. He re-slings the rifle as he moves, drawing his pistol instead as he rushes to get inside the Arcade. He didn't see any Vampire signatures in there, but that's no reason to dispense with caution now. "##### ###### ##########!" Rhenzkov snarls. He disappates into mist and recorporalizes several feet away. "##### ######## #### #####." And he disappates again, and is gone. Note: ‘You treacherous bastard! ... We will meet again, dhampir.’ Phil finds himself having trouble trying to get up, his left arm electing not to cooperate. With his right arm, he is able to pull himself up by pulling on the previously mentioned board. With some effort and pain, Phil pulls himself up and is able to draw his pistol, now unable to use a shotgun. The agent aims at Jean-Phillipe, and fires twice. When Chuck dusts Clint knows he's in trouble. He draws a fresh arrow and fires Jean-Phillipe catches it then with a blur of motion throws it back at Clint, knocking the archer off his feet with the impact. He blurs out of the way of Phil's two shots and then explodes into mist between the supports of the ride following after his remaining son. "Nnng," Clint says as he gets to the feet pulling the arrow out of him. Fortunately it hit the thickest part of his armour and bruised more than stabbed. Blade watches as Rhenzkov retreats. "The next time I see you, I'm staking your ancient ass, Rhenzkov." He throws a dagger towards him, but he knew that it probably wouldn't hit him. Even if it did, it wouldn't kill him. He'd just have to hunt him down again someday. He says in a loud voice. "Everyone ok?" "So far, so good. Looks like a hurricane came through in here, though." Ward replies, moving through the wreckage in his swift yet methodical manner, looking for any signs of their true objective here. He's not best pleased with so many of the Vampires having escaped (though probably not as displeased about it as Blade is), but they're technically not the mission, after all. "Yeah, still alive," Clint answers Blade holding a hand to the place where he got hit with his own arrow. He switches to comms "Ward, you find her?" he asks as he moves to sit down on some rubble. "Hey Phil, we didn't lose you did we?" Phil doesn't holster his pistol immediately, "Shoulder is probably dislocated, but I'll be fine." He shakes his head at the lack of dust, "But let's find Agent Romanov first." "I've found her." Ward relays over the comms, finally spotting Natasha and moving to a crouch beside her, pulling out a small combat knife and cutting the ropes that bind her. "She's breathing, if only just. Lots of blood loss. We need to get her to some proper medical care fast." He reaches to one of the larger pouches on his harness, pulling out a mylar space blanket, tearing the package open, and unfolding it so he can to carefully get it wrapped around her. Both for modesty and for the sake of keeping her body temperature at as close to normal as possible. Clint gets up. "What's your twenty, Ward?" he says tucking his bow away with a grunt. As he starts to move in the direction Ward went he asks Phil "We got a med-evac plan?" Phil can't lift his arm to respond, but he does turn to Clint, "Get her to a hospital as soon as possible." His tone is grim, "We go, now." And storms in that direction with Clint. "Head into the Arcade, move past the knocked-over Asteroids machine, squeeze through the two fallen roof supports to the left, then make an immediate right." Ward relays the directions to Clint, noticing Natasha's duct-taped hands and moving to get those free as well, albeit carefully. Clint moves on following the directions until he's kneeling beside Nat, next to Phil. "Nat you still with us?" he asks setting down his bow. Natasha groans, and opens an eye. "Agent... Ward?" she asks hesitantly. "Clint...?" Her voice wavers slightly. "Is that you?" She shifts slightly under the blanket, her freed fingers twitching. Her expression is dazed, even weak. Phil doesn't kneel, but he does say, "We are here for you, are you all right?" His face is grim, and turns to Ward, "What wounds were evident, can we move her?" "Bruises and bite marks at points where major blood vessels would be accessible." Ward summarizes, "Should be fine to move her. No sign of significant head or spinal trauma that I could discern." He carefully rises to his feet, pulling out his communit, "I'll call for a medevac." "Yeah Nat, it's me," Clint says putting a hand on her shoulder. "Just lay still and we'll get you out of here." As Ward steps out to guild the medievac, Natasha's eyes harden suddenly, and her hand lashes out, grabbing Clint's wrist and driving her thumb inside it somewhat, pressing against the pressure point there and gaining leverage. Despite her obvious blood loss and bruising, her grip is strong. Very strong. "Make me believe you are who you say you are," she says icily. "I'm done with your games, bloodsuckers." "It's us," Phil says to Natasha and turns to Ward, "Yes, medevac is the best course of action," he shakes his head, not sure what else to say. "Whoa, relax. It's me, it's Clint, from Waverly Iowa, hates the smell of chocolate, you shot me in the chest," he says and then grimacing adds. "And I kinda need that wrist." Natasha lets go of his wrist, her hand dropping. "...which romantic comedy did we watch in Bogata?" she asks quietly, closing her eyes. Phil raises a brow, "You hate the smell of chocolate?" Shocking him a bit, but he says nothing else, not wanting to ruin Clint's attempt at verification. "They make chocolate in my hometown, not many great memories there," Clint says to Phil before he looks down at Nat while he shakes out his wrist. "I keep telling you From Russia with Love is not supposed to be romantic or a comdey, even if it is funny." For a moment, a small smile tugs at her lips. "So you insist." Then Natasha's expression cools again. "Status report?" the Deputy Director asks. "I need a line to Fury as soon as we're able. The mission was a partial success." She sits up, the metallic blanket tumbling off of her. She doesn't notice or care, though, rubbing the bruises on her neck ruefully. "Coulson," she says calmly. "Help me up." Phil shakes his head, "I can't, shoulder is dislocated." He looks to Clint, "You will need to carry her. I don't want her overexerting herself." Coulson looks to Natasha, "I will call Director Fury as soon as possible, but first we need to get you some medical attention." "What?!" Clint says getting to his feet. "What do you mean the mission was a success? What mission?" he demands of her. "Phil do you know what the hell she's talking about?" Natasha rises to her feet--shakily, but still, far more agilely than a normal human in her condition could. The Deputy Director lifts a brow at Clint. "The preliminary data from the testing on the Silencer substance showed some chemical similarities with the tainted blood retrieved from Blade while he was under SHIELD protective custody. The theory went out that perhaps the substance either granted immunity to vampire venom, as Blade seems to have, or that it would break down wehn exposed to the venom. As the only operative infected, I was assigned to test this theory." Her expression is cool, and her voice calm. Phil shakes his head, "I had no idea that was the situation. Our mission was to find you and get you home safely, which was the mission I intended on calling Director Fury about, but I will report this as well, but first we need to get you to a hospital." "Great, whatever, she can get her ass to the chopper on her own," Clint says as he storms out of the arcade. "I'll be with Ward guiding it in." The Deputy Director looks at Coulson. "Not necessary. I want to be on a plane heading back to the New York office as soon as possible. The latter theory was proven correct, though I under estimated the information the vampire coven had on file. Despite my abilities being restored, I was unable to effect an escape-- they kept me effectively neutralized. I will file a full report on my return." She glances after Clint. "Agent Barton, is there a problem?" Phil shakes his head, "Very well, but at the very least I will be needing some attention," he says bluntly. Clint just keeps on walking. It will be an awkward flight to wherever they end up going.